that showed the standard categories for sorted collection of municipal waste and ideas on how to recycle and treat them. At the same time, the ministry gave briefings on these guidelines to local public bodies and technically assisted their reform for realization of the 3Rs.

### C. Examination and Evaluation of How the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law Has Been Enforced

Ten years have passed since the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law revised in 1997 was enforced, and the national government has examined how the law had been enforced according to the supplementary provisions of the revised law. After that, according to the supplementary provisions of the successively revised law, it is necessary to examine the enforcement state of the law stage by stage. Therefore, in July 2008, the “Expert Committee on Waste Treatment System” was set up in the Central Environment Council, and it examined and evaluated how the rules for the generation control, proper treatment, etc. of wastes based on the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law were observed.

## (3) Johkasoh Law (Household Wastewater Treatment Facility Law)

The Johkasoh Law enforced in October 1985 aims to properly treat raw sewage and miscellaneous wastewater with household wastewater treatment facilities, to thereby contribute to the conservation of the living environment and the improvement of public health from the viewpoint of conservation of the water quality of the public water area. The law also understands the series of processes of manufacturing, installing, and managing household wastewater treatment facilities in an integrated manner and imposes tighter regulations on them. At the same time, it requires people engaged in the operations of installation and management of the facilities to have certain qualifications.

The law provides that an examination should be carried out to check if each household maintains and manages its household wastewater treatment facility properly. The ratio of households that undertook an examination of water quality conducted at the end of fiscal 2007 according to Article 7 of the law was 87.9%, a 1.2% increase from fiscal 2006. In addition, the ratio of households that undertook a regular examination of their household wastewater treatment facilities carried out according to Article 11 of the law was 25.7% (47.0% for combined household wastewater treatment facilities), 1.9% increase (1.6% increase for combined household wastewater treatment facilities) from fiscal 2006.

## (4) Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources (Resources Effective Utilization Law)

The Resources Effective Utilization Law enforced in April 2001 specifies the following business categories: 1) business that should control the generation of or recycle by-products (specified businesses in which resources are saved: steel business, paper and pulp manufacturing business, etc.), 2) business that should use recycled resources and recycled parts (specified reuse business: paper manufacturing business, glass container manufacturing business, etc.), 3) products for which raw materials, etc. should be made rational use of (specified products for which resources are saved: automobiles, electric home appliances, etc.), 4) products for the use of recycled resources or recycled parts should be promoted (designated reuse-promoting products: automobiles, electric home appliances, etc.), 5) products that should have labels for promoting sorted collection (products with designated labels: plastic containers and packages, paper-made containers and packages, etc.), 6) products that should be collected and recycled by their manufacturers (designated recycled products: personal computers, small rechargeable batteries), 7) by-products the use of which is promoted as recycled resources (designated by-products: coal ash generated by the electricity industry), and the law imposes certain obligations on business operators engaged in each business mentioned above and promotes their voluntary efforts to make effective use of resources.

In addition, in January 2008, the basic policy working group of the Waste Treatment and Recycling Subcommittee under the Environment Division of the Industrial structure Council offered opinions concerning the vision of a new 3Rs policy for the establishment of a sound material-cycle society in the future. According to this vision, the Ministry of the Environment is taking measures for reducing the amount of various types of resources to be used.

First of all, in order to reduce the amount of resources to be used in a whole product supply chain, the ministry has selected 20 model projects and tries to create outstanding cases of resource-saving manufacturing through material flow cost accounting, environment-conscious design, etc.

In addition, the ministry is discussing a method or system for evaluating the activities carried out by manufacturers in their 3Rs-related product design and manufacturing in order to expand the market for 3Rs-conscious products so that consumers can accurately and easily understand and evaluate the manufacturers' efforts.

## (5) Law for the Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging (Containers and Packaging Recycling Law)

### A. Enforcement Status

Among the items sorted and collected in fiscal 2007, particularly the amount of plastic bottles, plastic containers, and paper-made containers and packages for beverages increased. On the other hand, the amount of steel containers decreased from the previous year (Table 3-2).

The amount of collected and sorted plastic containers and packages excluding plastic bottles that were added to target items in April 2000 has increased steadily, and the ratio of collected and sorted plastic containers and packages and that of paper-made containers and packages to plastic and paper-made containers and packages that were collected without being sorted are 71.8% and 38.3%, respectively. However, the ratios are still low, compared with those of other items, and it is essential to increase the number of municipalities that conduct sorted collection (Figures 3-4 and 3-5 and Table 3-3).

### B. Enforcement of the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law)

In April 2008, the revised Containers and Packing Recy-